A New Era: A Spark
by Ten0s
Summary: A New Era has come to the clans. SkyClan is by the lake, ShadowClan is back to normal, and there have been no sightings of any trouble by the lake. Though when a very harsh leaf-bare racks the clans to their cores their whole way of life is called into question. Soon only a couple of cats by the lake will be able to stop this incoming darkness from destroying the clan.


**Prologue**

Puddleshine padded through the ShadowClan camp, carrying a bundle of fresh coltsfoot from his den. His fur fluffed out against the cold. It had just started to snow and Puddleshine swore he would never get used to the cold, white droplets. He was bringing the coltsfoot to Hollowkit, who had just gotten kittencough and Puddleshine had to make sure that it wouldn't become whitecough or even worse, greencough. He was even more worried, since Ratscar had started to show symptoms of the sickness. As he padded toward the nursery he could see Pouncekit and Lightkit, the oldest litter in the nursery, playing outside in the snow, marvelling at it and throwing tiny scoops of it at each other. He noticed Shadowkit wasn't with them, but that didn't surprise him, Shadowkit had always been more interested in herbs and StarClan than he ever was in nursery games. Typically Shadowkit would be helping him in the medicine den, but once Ratscar had come in showing signs of whitecough he had banned the kit from the den, much to Shadowkit's chagrin.

Shaking his pelt to make sure no snow got inside, Puddleshine pushed through the nursery entrance and the soothing smell of fresh moss and milk wafted into his nose. Despite the snow coming down on the ShadowClan camp the nursery still stayed warm thanks to the thick outer walls. "Where is Berryheart?" he mewed wanting to know where Hollowkit's mother had gone before he gave her son the medicine.

"Over here Puddleshine!" Puddleshine turned his head toward where Berryheart was sitting in the very back, her tailed curled protectively around Hollowkit while Spirekit and Sunkit were playing nearby. Puddleshine smiled as he walked toward her. Starclan had blessed ShadowClan with many kits this season and all of them except Hollowkit were in good health. He made his way towards Berryheart and dropped the coltsfoot at her feet.

"Can I see Hollowkit?" he mewed. A moment later Berryheart lifted up her tail to reveal the black tom-kit. The kit was curled comfortably near Berryheart and Puddleshine pressed his head against the kits. "The fever has gone down since last time," he meowed, relief filling the words. The last thing ShadowClan needed was a kit with whitecough.

"That's great!" Berryheart said as she went to go lick Hollowkit's head.

"Does that mean I don't have to take the herbs," the kit mewed weakly.

Puddleshine frowned, Hollowkit had always been a sickly kit and he had to make sure that the kit didn't get anything serious. "Yes you still have to eat them, but once you do you'll feel a lot better," he mewed encouragingly. Hollowkit nodded and Puddleshine began to chew up the herbs and spat the poultice on to his paws. Hollowkit dutifully lapped the herbs up and shivered at the taste. "You have to eat all of it," Puddleshine reminded. Hollowkit nodded and soon had swallowed all the coltsfoot.

"Good job!" Berryheart mewed as she lovingly licked Hollowkit.

"I promise you'll feel better afterwards," Puddleshine nodded at the kit "Has anyone elses kits showed any symptoms?" he announced. He looked toward where Yarrowleaf was sitting. She was the one Puddleshine was most worried since she had the youngest litter.

"No problems here," she answered as she went back to watching Hopkit and Flaxkit play fight "Not even a cough." Puddleshine felt his heart warm as he watched the kits play fighting. The kits were only half Shadowclan since their father was Nettle, one of Darktail's rouges. Despite all of that the kits were growing up into young ShadowClan cats and would definitely make good warriors once they were apprenticed.

With that, his mind trailed off to Pouncekit and Lightkit playing in the snow. The kits would be apprenticed soon. He turned towards Dovewing the mother of the kits. Even if she was a ThunderClan warrior by birth, she had definitely blended into the ShadowClan lifestyle. Though that was mostly due to Tigerstar, the ShadowClan leader, being her mate. He was happy though for Dovewing. Despite the fact that she had had a half-clan relationship she was a nice cat who respected ShadowClan and has made an effort for her and her kits to understand the lifestyle. "Have there been any problems with Shadowkit lately?" he questioned.

Shadowkit would get seizures from time to time which would often be followed by a vision. The last vision he had gotten seemed to prophesied his death, but luckily Juniperclaw, ShadowClan's former deputy, had saved him, though he had died during the attempt. Other than that Puddleshine had grown to like the kit and his helping in the medicine den so he naturally wanted to make sure the kit was alright.

Dovewing shook her head "He hasn't had a single seizure since last time. Though I would still like it if you would check up on him, but he's sleeping right now so try not to wake him." She pulled her tail away to reveal the gray tabby tom-kit sleeping peacefully near his mother. Puddleshine looked at the kit, he was planning on doing this anyway whether Dovewing approved or not but he had a feeling that she would agree with him. All in all the kit was healthy, he had no fever, hadn't had a single seizure, and had grown regularly like a typical kit and now was the size of his littermates.

"He is in perfect health Dovewing," Puddleshine mewed "So are his siblings. They even look like they will be able to be apprenticed soon."

Dovewing looked in shock, her green eyes widening. "Already!"

Puddleshine nodded "You should go tell Tigerstar soon," he purred "I'm sure he will be just as excited."

Dovewing still looked surprised "Are you sure?"

"Positive."

Dovewing curled her tail around Shadowkit "Oh my, you've grown up so fast," she murmured.

Puddleshine chuckled, Snowbird had been just as surprised as Dovewing when she had found out her litter had been ready to be apprenticed. He was just about to leave when suddenly he felt a pelt brush past him.

It was weird, he swore he didn't hear another cat come in. It wasn't Pouncekit or Lightkit they weren't big enough to be as tall as him. Was it Cloverfoot coming to check up on the kits? Berryheart and Yarrowleaf were her sisters after all and as deputy it would make sense for her to be worried about the health of the kits. Puddleshine turned to go see who it was but by the time he looked back, the figure had moved toward Dovewing. Puddleshine felt his eyes widen as he saw a black tom with yellow eyes standing over Shadowkit's sleeping body, the weirdest part was the cats pelt and eyes had stars in them. The tom looked straight at him and mewed, just barely a whisper "He will be able to see through the shadows and the stars," and disappeared. As Puddleshine looked toward where Shadowkit was he noticed a shadow had fallen on top of the tom-kit and now his eyes were open and staring straight through him, glowing in the darkness. They were like Tigerstar's eyes but a lighter shade and Puddleshine felt as though he would be reduced to dust by the glare.

"Puddleshine is something wrong?" Dovewing meowed, her voice worried. Puddleshine blinked and just as sudden the cat was gone and Shadowkit's eyes had closed and the shadow had dispersed. Puddleshine shook out his pelt, still shocked after the vision. Dovewing suddenly muttered "Is it a sign," she gasped "A Prophecy!"

Puddleshine briefly nodded towards her and he heard the sound of her gasp. He turned towards the nursery to leave. As soon as Puddleshine exited the nursery he went straight to Tigerstar's den to tell him about the vision still confused about what it could mean.

 **This is my first story so I would appreciate any reviews or criticisms. In fact the whole reason I decided to post this was because I wanted people to see my writing.**

 **Also fun little head canon I came up with is that everyone in ShadowClan is nice to Dovewing because they generally like her. I just wanted to add a fun fact to my story.**


End file.
